a question of ethics.

[paranoid]

The other day I read about a guy who was arrested for possesion of kiddy porn.
(I would like now to state that I do not find this stuff funny)
The thing that got me was he was arrested after taking his computer for a service and the techs called the cops after finding his stash. Sure, he was stupid for leaving them on the computer or at least not zipping them up. But is nothing sacred?
The question(s) I pose is this:
Do you guys ever snoop on a customers computer when its in for service (of whatever kind) and;
Would you call the police if you uncovered something so crude.
Me first. I have snooped in the past, but its very boring stuff. The only thing that comes to mind is a computer we once had in from a strip club. I think that if I found somthing this low on a customers computer, I would respect their privace and not turn them in, or perhaps do it anonamasly (?) at a later date. Its a touchy subject.

[tk421]

I see your point. But if you took your car in to be re-upholstered, and they found your stash of crack cocaine, what do you think they would do?

"snooping" is probably unethical. Regardless, if I found that stuff, I'd turn him in. It's illegal to have that kind of sick stuff, and I don't think that's a law that I find fault with, or would have trouble upholding.

tk

[JeanneD]

I have thought of this myself, what would i do...
I never look at peoples stuff on purpose, actually I could care less .. i will only open files if like they say word doesn't work and I need to test it, etc, I don't even look at their bookmarks. I don't want to know really... I had a real nice older customer once, and because she said her bookmarks didn't work I tried some, well they were all really BAD porn sites (and she lived alone), and now since then I think of that whenever I see her, I rather not know. When i worked at a large corporation it was against policy and you could be fired for looking at porno online at work, well of course i would occassionally run across some engineer or something who spent all day online at porno sites judging by history and bookmarks (people aren't too bright)making a 6 digit salary I might add, but I never once reported it (altho if it had been kiddie I am sure I would have).. I would say very politely that "someone" was accessing these sites (it was NT so it was login passworded and only they could get in, but i was being discreet to not embarass them) from their machine and that since the "powers that be" occassionally
check the firewall for this stuff I would make sureit stopped if I were them so they didn't get in trouble for "whoever" was doing it. Then my boss started one of those login pop-up boxes that informs you of company policy with the computer and you have to click OK to get in, then everyone thought that was SOMEONE spying on them in their computer from IT. Cut down a lot of that stuff I must say.
However, back to the point, when it comes to kiddie porn I am totally against that and I would turn it in, altho it would probably make you own life hell, especially if you own a repair shop, for awhile with all the hoopla it would cause.

[CobraTekMax]

My policy was always that I would never go out of my way to look for it. But if I stumbled accross it in the course of normal repairs/maintenence, then it was fair game to report it. So yeah, searching for *.jpg is wrong, but if I'm scanning through a directory looking for something, and I find something with a suspicious name, I'm gonna check it out, and act accordingly.

Kiddie porn was the one thing I never tolerated. People could have tons of other porn, gigs of warez & Metallica mp3s, even have a Word document on their desktop detailing their terrorist cult's plans for launching a nuclear warhead at the White House, and I'd turn a blind eye. All of those things have some sort of justification for doing, no matter how screwed up their thinking may be. But kiddie porn is not right by ANY stretch of the imagination.

[Sunstroke]

Originally posted by paranoid:
The other day I read about a guy who was arrested for possesion of kiddy porn.
(I would like now to state that I do not find this stuff funny)
The thing that got me was he was arrested after taking his computer for a service and the techs called the cops after finding his stash. Sure, he was stupid for leaving them on the computer or at least not zipping them up. But is nothing sacred?
The question(s) I pose is this:
Do you guys ever snoop on a customers computer when its in for service (of whatever kind) and;
Would you call the police if you uncovered something so crude.
Me first. I have snooped in the past, but its very boring stuff. The only thing that comes to mind is a computer we once had in from a strip club. I think that if I found somthing this low on a customers computer, I would respect their privace and not turn them in, or perhaps do it anonamasly (?) at a later date. Its a touchy subject.

I don't actively look for stuff like that. But if I ever stumbled across kiddie porn, you're damned right I'd phone the cops. Who knows if this person is a sexual predator now or in the future.
As far as porn surfing in the workplace, that's why administrators conduct audits or should. If there is policies regarding use of company equipment and time and there is evidence of an employee abusing them, I certainly would take it up with their managers.


Sunstroke.

[paranoid]

The last job was system admin, and we had our fair share of people download 'large' quantitys of stick. I would be polite and mention that these things can get you fired. Its against company policy and therefore, you should cat accordinally.
In a shop, yes, you have to turn a blind eye on a lot, but I'm in agreeance with all of you. Kiddy is not tollerated and you never know who this person would become. But I think I would give them the computer back anyway, and then call the cops. But you are all right, and that is not right.

[paranoid]

Originally posted by tk421:
I see your point. But if you took your car in to be re-upholstered, and they found your stash of crack cocaine, what do you think they would do?
tk

who have you been talking too?...

[BurnFEST]

yup i agree with you all that kiddie porn is just NOT acceptable, i dont beleive any porn is, get yerself a decent chick....but then thats not the law so its none of my business.

If i got a system and found kiddie porn on it, i would give the system back then anonymously call the cops and get them to deal with the sick guy.

my 2c

[Sowulo]

Here in the US, most states have laws that require you to report certain kinds of things like child abuse, kiddie porn, rape, murder, etc. that may come to your attention. Even a priest is required to report these kinds of things if heard in confession....

[ShadowWynd]

As for directly looking for it, no. However, if we see "suspicious" names in directories (or on the desktop), we do check it out.

Since child porn is illegal, if our shop notices it and does nothing, we automatically become party to a crime. Legal reasons aside, it would be hard going through life knowing some kid was molested because you didn't put the guy away.

Hypothetical Question: If you found child porn on someone's computer, and it was of your sister or son or daughter, would you be able to say "Client Information is private, we won't do anything"?

[Kymera]

Really, I always figured that certain things were considered private like doctor/patient, lawyer/client or priest/confessor relationships. If I confessed a crime to my lawyer, he is able not to share this information with anyone else. Normal people have to report crimes that they see or hear about.

I would definitely report kiddie porn to the authorities. I feel that it's the most revolting act that can be performed upon a human being. It's akin to raping someone and photographing it for distribution and profit. How sick is that?

[LagMonster]

I would report kiddie porn Immediately!

Then back up all of the rest.

[Kyr0n]

Yes, i do search for stuff like that, you'd be supprised how many people are into beastiality, and stuff like that, i find it kinda funny. But if i ever found child porn, yes, i would call the cops.

[Eclipse2G]

This really isn't about ethics but it is kind of funny imo. I once had this lady bring in her computer to be worked on, we reinstalled everything, and set up user profiles for everyone in her family. 2 days later she calls up screaming saying that she found tons of porn in the temp internet files. She was threatening to sue, saying that we put all this porn on her machine to corrupt her kids(very, very religious family). I told her to bring it in. Turns out after a little investigation, this had all benn downloaded by her husband the night before at the time she was at her church group. Needless to say she left fuming, as those of us who were at the store were laughing our heads off. A week later her now ex-husband came into the store threatening me, saying that I had broken up his family! Sometimes the consequences, can be very far reaching....

[KINGofBLEH]

I respect the owner privacy as well. I limit my "snooping" to only those areas directly related to the problem. However, some users try to hide their porn stash by putting it in a vital directory like the "c:\windows\porn" (just an example) to hide it from wife/girlfriend. When I come across something like that and I think that it has something to do with the problem, I inform the user and recommend deleting it (without getting into a morality argument). If I ever came across kiddie porn in this situation I would probably go straight to the police because I could be dealing with the next Dahmer or Bundy. But I never go snooping around their HDD just to look for illegal porn. I'm far too busy for police work.